


Supplementary Materials

by MzMinola



Series: Change the Fates' Design [2]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Cast List, Lexicon - Freeform, Meta, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23462977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MzMinola/pseuds/MzMinola
Summary: Introductory information, lexicon, & cast list for this series.Book quotations and analytical discussions of them, primarily for worldbuilding and characterization choices, and also for fun.
Series: Change the Fates' Design [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681414
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	1. Introduction

C has an excellent Pern Primer up on her Tumblr [[ https://c-is-for-circinate.tumblr.com/post/58942622755/the-dragonriders-of-pern-a-primer-for-the ](https://c-is-for-circinate.tumblr.com/post/58942622755/the-dragonriders-of-pern-a-primer-for-the)]. If you’re completely new to Pern, please go read it, because not only is it wonderfully done, it lays out the noncon/dubcon set-up I’ll be interrogating.

I am going to repeat some of the mechanical worldbuilding here, and introduce some era-specific matters that will clarify the situation our main characters are in:

The Rukbat solar system contains a multitude of planets; we are concerned with Pern, which has had humans on it for approximately 2500 years, and the Red Star (awkward name for a planet) which is a rogue that’s got a wonky orbit that takes it through an Oort Cloud. For 200 years at a time, the Red Star is distant from Pern. Just another celestial body. Then for 50 years it gets close enough that gravity yanks some voracious mycorrhizal spores _off_ of it, _through_ Pern’s atmosphere, and they proceed to consume anything they touch before expiring.

Lovely.

Don’t worry though, Thread can be destroyed by fire, HNO3, extreme cold, and drowning in water. It can’t get through glass, metal, plasticrete, or stone. If you’ve got an extensive cave system to hide in you’ll make it through the Fall. But what about all your crops?

Dragons, a little after humans arrived and realized they’d trapped themselves with this nightmare, were bio-engineered out of a local Pern fauna to fight Thread. They live separately from everyone else, in the Weyrs.

For most of Pern history, there were five to six Weyrs (Ista comes and goes).

Almost 450 years before the start of this story, at the beginning of what no one yet knew was a Long Interval, the inhabitants of every single Weyr except Benden vanished overnight. No one knows why. Certainly not our characters.

To make matters worse, recently a real nasty piece of work named Fax has been conquering assorted regions out on the north-western part of the continent. Theoretically, each Lord Holder is only supposed to claim one Hold, but Fax uses a combination of “Oh, I totally married someone from the bloodline,” and “Yeah? You and what army?” to maintain his claims, and none of the other Lords are used to working together.

And thus onto this precarious stage do we set our tale...


	2. What Is Canon?

Most of the _Dragonriders of Pern_ series was written by Anne McCaffrey, either by herself or with a co-author. Several books have been written solely by her son Todd, one by her daughter Gigi, and there’s _The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern_ encyclopedia by Jody Lynn Nye based on extensive interviews with McCaffrey (but is not, ultimately, her words).

McCaffrey used a “how old do I want this character to be for the story I’m telling” and “the next story works better if these previously written events were longer apart / closer together / simultaneous” method of plotting, which lead to some timeline issues fans have long poured over. I prefer a solid timeline, for my own reference if nothing else. I _heavily_ referenced Sariel’s fan timeline [ [ http://pern.srellim.org/time.htm ](http://pern.srellim.org/time.htm) ], mostly the _Masterharper of Pern_ & _Dragonflight_ eras, as those are both when this series takes place, and before the biggest of the timeline issues. One of the exceptions is that Lessa, in _Dragonflight,_ often thinks of the Eighth Pass being only four centuries ago; a later book clarified that Long Intervals are 450 years.

McCaffrey spent many years banning fanfiction but cautiously allowing RPG’s that followed set rules (eased up on as the years went by), and she answered worldbuilding questions in interviews. Thus there are _many_ worldbuilding rules that are _implied_ by canon text, but only explicitly _stated_ outside the text. Most of the rules for what kind of person can Impress what kind of dragon falls under this category.

With a multitude of authors and known canon contradictions, I had to set some rules for myself to keep from going bonkers trying to track down every detail.

The canon I am thus drawing from are the books and short stories written solely by Anne McCaffrey from 1968 to 2001. I only got my hands on _Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern_ (1989) after _We All Have A Hunger_ was about ninety percent finished, so while it’s fun and I may draw on it for inspiration, I am not treating it as canon for the purposes of this series.

I have not re-read all of the original books, though I’ve skimmed a lot searching for things. If I contradict something from them that they themselves did not contradict, we’re just going to have to live with that. If the books contradict themselves* and I’m aware of it, I went with whichever version served this story best or made for the more interesting worldbuilding. This is highly subjective.

*Example, the end of _Masterharper_ puts some dragonriders in a scene they were _definitely_ not there for in _Dragonflight._

If it’s a “rule” that never _explicitly_ made it into canon prose, but is so baked into the fandom (usually due to the Word Of Author mentioned above) that we can’t possibly ignore it, I am treating it as an _in-universe cultural assumption._ Canonically, Pern went for centuries thinking women could not Impress “fighting dragons” (anything but gold) and then in the very second book someone calls bullshit on that idea, and soon after a teen girl Impresses to a green.

I’ve made up a number of things that I feel mesh with canon, in order to enrich the worldbuilding and story, and often to explain things about canon to myself. 

I hope you enjoy!


	3. Lexicon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canine/Feline/Bovine/etc rather than dog/cat/cow/etc - McCaffrey went with this so I did too.

AIVAS Adjusted Turn / AAT — the chronological year with “zero” being the landing of the colonists. Most of Pern history is things like “Twentieth Turn of the Fifth Pass” or “One-Hundred and Ninetieth Turn of the Seventh Interval” which is very fancy, and makes sense culturally, and I would use that if I were putting the year in the prose. But the AAT is used in most fan-timelines, and is _way_ less confusing when discussing the shift between Interval and Pass.

AIVAS — look there’s a supercomputer buried by volcanic ash on the Southern Continent, that’s just the kind of sci-fi Pern is. This story isn’t getting to AIVAS, don’t worry about it.

 _Between_ (verb) — the act of teleporting. Firelizards can do it on their own. Dragons are so tightly bonded with their rider that the two need to work in tandem to do it safely.

 _Between_ (noun) — the non-space anything teleporting passes through.

Charter — the ruling legal document of all of Pern, set to song. Pieces of it are mentioned in canon, but the whole thing is never laid out, and I’ve mixed together rules we hear about, and rules I think could explain some of the problems we see.

Crafthall — see Hall.

The Dawn Sisters — the three colony spaceships that transported humans to Pern from other star systems approximately 2500 years before our story takes place, stripped down and left in stable orbit. No one left alive knows this.

Dolphins — not appearing in this fic, but they’re out there, many generations post-mentasynth, sad humans don't talk to them anymore but still saving people from shipwrecks when they can.

Dragons — what happens when you take firelizards, put them through the “mentasynth” psychic powers enhancement process, and then bio-engineer them to be bigger than horses and keep getting bigger for many generations. All draconic names end in -th. Forms an unbreakable psychic bond with a single human upon hatching. Come in five colors:  
Gold, female, too small a percentage of the population to know the number.  
Bronze, male, 5%  
Brown, male, 15%  
Blue, male, 30%  
Green, female, 50%, traditionally fed firestone before attaining sexual maturity.

Fall — see Threadfall.

Firelizard — native Pern fauna, about the size of a hawk, called “dragonets” for a while in _Dragonsdawn._ Currently considered a myth, albeit one that used to really exist.

Firestone — a particular kind of rock dragons chew and process in their secondary stomach to produce flame. Renders female dragons infertile, which in practice means the greens. No one has tried to feed golds firestone in millennia.

Gather — combination trade show & county fair. Multiple days long and regularly scheduled in an Interval, much shorter and irregular in a Pass. Capitalized for ease of differentiation from regular uses of the word.

Glow-worms — a bioluminescent native Pern organism which has been cultivated by humans to provide light in the interiors of cave dwellings.

Glowbasket — a container for storing and utilizing glow-worms and glowing fungi. Never described in detail in canon, I’ve been imagining a round shuttered lantern.

Glows — may refer to the worms, baskets, or a bioluminescent fungus native to Pern on which the glow-worms feed, cultivated for use in the baskets as well.

Hall — may refer to the central teaching and administrative location of a formally recognized craft, or to the craft as an organization.

hall — a smaller outpost of crafters who are working & living as a group, rather than being the lone crafter in a hold.

Harper — bards, in a world where math/history/civics (and sometimes reading/writing) are all taught via song.

Headwoman — boss of the Weyr support staff.

Herdbeast — does it live in a herd and isn’t a runnerbeast? Congrats.

Hold — may refer to an entire political region, or to the central stronghold where the leader of said region resides.

hold — a dwelling & associate lands of varying size, the smallest being a single family farm. May be referred to more specifically by type, such as beasthold, farmhold, seahold, etc. Carved into cliffs & natural cave systems, with any outbuildings made of stone.

Interval — the 200 year span in which no Threadfall occurs.

Klah — a hot caffeinated drink made from bark.

Lord Holder — the governor of a region, defaults to male primogeniture. Earlier history has Lady Holders as well, and they make a comeback in the chronologically later books, but at the time of _We All Have A Hunger,_ we haven’t had any in living memory. A current Lord may select someone other than their eldest son as Heir, though they’re still likely to still pick a male relative. A conclave of other Lords to confirm this choice comes up sometimes. Historically and possibly by Charter rules, each Lord Holder may only be in charge of one Hold. Theoretically accountable to each other and to the Charter, but in practice, dictators.

Long Interval — a rare occurrence (only twice in canon) in which the Red Star did not come close enough to Pern during their synchronization for Thread to be drawn down, resulting in a 450 year Thread-free era. Not much has been canonically addressed of what occurred in the 1st Long Interval. At the beginning of the 2nd all the Weyrs save Benden vanished, and the very first novel, _Dragonflight,_ begins several years before it’s due to end.

Mentasynth — only comes up in _Dragonsdawn,_ but it’s some mysterious bio-engineering way of amplifying psychic powers, including a connection to some environmental elements.

Milchbeasts — I think this is just milk cows but I guess it could be goats too? I swear this one only shows up in _Dragonflight_ in one passage, and I don’t think I used it at all.

Minehold — an exception to the “[food related]hold” and “[craft]hall” nomenclature, possibly due to being extraction rather than production based.

Numbweed — a plant native to Pern which has a strong numbing (and potentially blistering) affect when broken and rubbed on skin. Mashed up, distilled, and mixed with a matrix to make it safe, it's then used as a salve in combination anesthetic, disinfectant, and healing accelerant. 'Numbweed' may refer to both the plant and the salve.

Pass — the 50 year span in which Threadfalls occur.

Pern — a planet very far from Earth but conveniently similar to it in size, gravity, atmosphere, orbit, etc. Has two moons.

Red Star — a rogue planet whose orbit brings it close to Pern for 50 years out of 250, and through an Oort cloud for a different part of that orbit.

Runnerbeast — some of them are horses, some of them are native Pern fauna, and we’re never sure which is being referenced in a given scene.

Sevenday — a week, but “week” is _also_ used in canon, so I’ve used both.

Thread — a mycorrhizal spore theorized to originate in the Oort cloud, which is drawn by gravity from the Red Star to Pern at frequent intervals during the 50-year orbit synchronization. Will consume any living thing it comes in contact with, but can drown, be destroyed by fire and HNO3, and even if left alone will die quickly despite gorging. Not quickly enough to save lives or crops, unfortunately. Cannot eat through glass, metal, plasticrete, or stone. Not that Pern has plasticrete anymore.

Threadfall — a multi-hour span of time in which Thread breaks through the atmosphere and plummets towards the planet in a limited area.

Tithes — taxes paid in goods rather than money, to both one’s Lord Holder and regional Weyr (currently Benden Weyr for everyone).

Traders — travelling merchants. In a world where ravenous fungoids fall from the sky and the dragons are too busy dealing with it to help you move anything, the people willing to slap metal sheets on top of wagons and trek across the continent are vital. Canonically the only people who bother having family names in addition to their given names.

Turn — a year, but in a 1960’s sci-fi series where giving things different names adds flavor. Capitalized for ease of differentiation from regular uses of the word.

Turn’s End — New Year’s, mostly just treated as a one-or-few day thing in canon. I turned it into a five-day-long celebration that’s separate from the rest of the calendar so that the 365 day year can be divided up into twelve 30-day months plus this festival, which could also be the place to subtract a day during Leap Years.

Weyr — a central location the dragons assigned to protect a specific region live, set in an inactive volcano. Also houses the dragons’ riders, candidates, support staff, retired riders & support staff, and all those humans’ children. Due to being the only Weyr left, Benden’s region is the entire planet. May also refer to the organization and its leadership, as in “What does Ista Weyr think of this?” They answer to no one but other Weyrs, and theoretically the Charter.

weyr — an individual dragon & rider’s dwelling within the Weyr.

Weyrleader — the highest authority in the Weyr, who earns the position by riding the dragon to catch the senior gold in her most recent mating flight. So far in canon, always a bronze rider, as none of the others have ever caught a gold.

Weyrling — juvenile dragons, physically mature yet young dragons still in training, and dragonriders still in training.

Weyrwoman — the rider of the senior gold, only displaced by death or voluntary retirement. Has authority over the Headwoman but not the Weyrleader. Her authority over wingleaders & Council is less clear.

Wherry — Pern fauna, basically turkeys, if turkeys flew and ate smaller critters.

Woolbeast / Woolies — look I don’t remember if this is a canon term, but the existence of wool _is_ canon, and so is the term “milchbeast” so I just went for it. Could be sheep, goats, llamas, maybe something else! Probably not angora rabbits though. Probably.


	4. Cast List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exhaustive, as I've tried to keep it to characters that show up more than once. However, if there's a name in the story you'd like to see here for reference, let me know!
> 
> Will be updated as the story progresses, and therefore may contain spoilers.
> 
> Italics denote a canon character.

**Died between the Prologue and Act One:**

_Weyrleader F’lon & bronze Simanith. _ Father of F’lar & F’nor. Much easier to lionize now that he’s been murdered.

B’sur & blue Loroth. Born in a small Nerat seahold, returned to the waves upon passing. Father of Reiko, grandfather of Kenta & Junpei.

**Peerless:**

_Weyrwoman Jora & gold Nemorth. _ Impressed in AAT 2465, has seen multiple Weyrleaders and two Bronze Councils come and go.

**Lower Caverns Workers:**

Anjali — healing & herbalism specialization. Brought to the Weyr by S’ten at age seventeen from a middle-sized hold along the Telgas River. Detail I never found room for: the hold is carved into a large river island, making it highly defensible.

Ellenra — Head of Baking, related to Luceel but I don’t know how.

Enid — sewing specialization, Esme & Earl’s older sister.

Esme — bartering specialization, but currently mostly stuck with generic weyrbrat work. Fostered by Reiko from Earl’s birth until Reiko left.

 _Felena_ — no specialization yet. Fosterling; her holder mother brought her to the Weyr at age three, and her dragonrider father wasn’t involved in her upbringing, though her Uncle R’len is an active part of her life. Age unknown, but I think she’s a little younger than Esme.

Gullers — smithing & carpentry specialization. Would be an engineering student if this were a contemporary piece.

Jelally — kitchen specialization. Mother of A’jellan & Rally.

Luceel — kitchen specialization. Mother of Enid, Esme, & Earl.

 _Manora_ , Headwomen — runs all of this. Mother of F’nor, foster mother of F’lar.

Olivia — Head of Healing & Herbalism.

Reiko (former) — left for the Weaver Hall in Southern Boll before our story begins. Daughter of B’sur, mother of Kenta & Junpei.

Rishall — livestock care specialization. More restless than she lets on.

Sanners — herbalism specialization. Mother of Gullers.

 _Sanra_ — child-minding specialization. Foster mother of Chojohrnen and possibly Felena. Takes over the teaching duties of Weyrsinger whenever C’gan is busy with Weyrlingmaster duties.

Tinall — no specialization yet, only in her mid-teens. Younger sister of Rishall, older sister of Yatin. Probably considered a “weyrbrat” rather than “worker” still, but that’s a very blurry line for the girls, who are barred from candidacy rather than aging out of it.

Winona — smithing & carpentry specialization. Mentor to Gullers.

**Candidates:**

Chojohrnen — “fosterling” for formality’s sake. Ex-farmboy, left home at fifteen due to an acute case of Not Wanting To Be Murdered. Spent two-ish years as a travelling merchant and smuggler through the lands of a tyrant.

Earl — weyrbred, has precognition, primarily uses it to win bets.

Junpei — weyrbred, good at looking after children, playing drums, and worrying.

Kenta (former) — left before aging out to apprentice as a weaver, causing scandal.

Konatis — weyrbred.

Lomerik — fosterling.

Nolaris — weyrbred.

Omoriel — fosterling. Good friends with Tinall. Sneaks out of chores with greenrider friends N’bast & L’colm. Bites when startled.

Rally (former) — Left to apprentice as a harper after failing to Impress, technically not aged-out but with no hope of another clutch in time. Was friends with T’sum.

**The Bronze Council,** in order of age:

Sh’xsa & _Calanuth_

_M’ridin & Cortath _

_C’rob & Spakinth _

_C’vrel & Falarth _

_R’gul & Hath _— strict traditionalist who does not believe in the return of Thread.

_S’lel & Tuenth _

K’ban & Lozoth

 _F’lar & Mnementh _— traditionalist when it suits him, True Believer regarding the return of Thread. Has cycled through new wingseconds every year since becoming a wingleader. So while his pat-brother F’nor is likely to keep his spot, everyone expects T’sum to lose his, especially as F’lar’s not subtle about telling candidate Junpei he’d be a good wingsecond.

_T’bor & Orth _

Bronze Trainees not yet on the council or leading wings: _D’nol & Valenth, S’lan _ & Tinituth.

**Other riders of note & their dragons: **

A’jellan & Dorth — brown, an asshole.

C’gan & Tagath — blue, the Weyrsinger & Weyrlingmaster, retired from the wings.

D’nis & Aldamth — blue, great social dancer. Chill unless someone’s being a creep.

D’rees & Berroth — green, plays flute for the competitive acrobatic dance team, has no chill.

 _F’nor & Canth _ — brown, younger brother and wingsecond to F’lar.

L’colm & Badoth — green, friends with Omoriel.

L’deni & Ledbuth — green, competitive acrobatic dancer.

 _L’rad_ & Zosth — blue, recently graduated from the Weyrling Wing into F’lar’s.

M’kel & Daleth — green, calming demeanor, plays gitar.

N’bast & Neesuth — green, high-strung, friends of Omoriel.

P’trikor & Botelath — brown, friends with Esme.

Q’cheten — a retired greenrider.

R’len & Lamath — blue, retired. Paternal uncle to Felena. Frequently volunteers as Watch Pair.

S’ten & Gisnith — brown, wingsecond to R’gul. Brought holdgirl Anjali to the Weyr after getting to know her over several Gathers. One of those people that everyone assumes is going to get punched in the face any minute now, yet somehow keeps not.

 _T’sum & Munth _ — newly appointed wingsecond to F’lar. No one expects him to last in the job. Was friends with Rally.

X’toq — a retired greenrider.

Zalinna — a retired greenrider, known to most people as Z’lin. Enjoys Cloaked Robin stories.

**Little kids:** Lornaley, Morag, Tegaran, Tollara, Tolley, Yatin, and many more.


	5. [Spoilers] What If - Impression AU's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This installment contains major spoilers for both plot and character arcs in "We All Have A Hunger" and I suggest you don't read this unless you've read that one all the way through.
> 
> Shipfish asked: "are there any story elements you'd had liked to play with if they impressed differently than they did?"

So since the Weyr has strong stereotyping and traditions regarding who’s allowed to do what job, the key factor for the changes resulting from the boys on different color dragons (for Namith & Surugath to be different colors? Or to have chosen different riders while some other dragons chose the boys? Likely would depend on the color & story) is that Chojohrnen is being handed chances he never thought he’d have and having to do some internal digging and make choices, while Junpei is responding to _everyone else’s reactions._

~

Let’s start with Ch’joh. He’s had his contributions ignored or ridiculed and been a target of harassment for a _lot_ of his life, which lovely green Namith did not change for him. If Namith had been gold I’m sure there would be huge plotty things happening and cultural upheaval but the only detail I could say for sure is that at _least_ one bronzerider gets stabbed.

Ch’joh on bronze is a traumatized gay holdbred teen suddenly being handed _guaranteed power_ and the chance to maybe someday be a petty dictator (“So the Weyrleadership is _basically_ decided by a fuck contest, right? I can do that.”). I don’t know what he _does_ with wingleader & council-seat power but he absolutely Does Not Keep His Mouth Shut About Anything Ever. The other bronzeriders hate him (though F’lar gleefully uses him as a smokescreen for his own politicking). Jora thinks he’s hilarious.

On brown or blue he’s got to make _choices_ about personal safety versus standing up for other people, which I find to be a really interesting potential arc for Ch’joh.

Blueriders are very good at fading into the background; they’re assumed to be mostly reliable, they don’t get permanent promotions, but can be acting wingseconds or leaders of temporary bluewings. Ch’joh could become invisible, and there’s _safety_ in that, which he’s never had before. Brownriders don’t have the invisibility, but they can come close, and they can _earn_ positions of power. If he can avoid rocking the boat during his weyrling Turns, get picked by a brown or bronzerider with a decent reputation (among other brown and bronzeriders, that is) for his traineeship, he’s got a shot at getting enough power to make day to day life better for a decent number of people. Not big sweeping institutional changes, no, but making his wing a good one to fly in, and using interpersonal relationships with other b-riders to step in if there’s abuses.

But getting and keeping a wingsecond position requires letting a lot slide, and so does bluerider invisibility. I think he’d try, at first. It’s easier during the first months of weyrling training when they’re all _exhausted,_ but when they’re old enough that the lurkers start eying the greens...well, then he’ll have to decide. Ultimately I think he comes down on the side of “You know what, fuck this,” and start picking fights _all_ the gosh-darn time, but it’s a deliberate choice to disregard safety or promotions for what’s right.

~

A brief aside before we get into what Impressing a different color dragon means for J’pei: without his son on green, R’gul isn’t avoiding everything to do with the weyrlings because he’s not busy _pretending his son doesn’t exist,_ so the greens...might actually get their firestone doses before ever rising! The greenclutch arc might never happen, leaving the Weyr in even _direr_ straits by the time of Lessa’s arrival*. If it does still happen (like it doesn’t occur to R’gul to ask C’gan about it, because _of course_ Weyrlingmaster C’gan remembered, it’s his job, isn’t it?) it’s just 3 pregnant greens instead of 4, and J’pei is very supportive of them and secretly extremely envious.  
*unless instead of a very large green Surugath is a very small gold, but a new gold ten years earlier than canon is a big enough AU to deserve its own post, so we’re only looking at J’pei with a male dragon here.

Okay, moving on: J’pei on _any_ male dragon means the rest of the Weyr keeps assuming he’s straight. Because the Weyr is more heteronormative than it likes to pretend it is, this puts a _lot_ of social pressure on him to go along with that assumption, especially as his dragon gets older and he’s not so busy with weyrling training that he can use overwork as an excuse to just... _not have_ any non-platonic relationships. He’s still pining for Ch’joh, and even more torn up about saying anything. The poor kid’s on the ace spectrum (demisexual) in a culture that _doesn’t recognize that as a thing._ This part of his personal arc is _complicated_ and _hard._

R’gul would be disappointed in bluerider J’pei, but not ashamed of him, so doesn’t avoid him, probably acting a lot like he did when Junpei was a candidate. Actually, that’s a pretty good description of what happens; bluerider J’pei very neatly slots into a similar role as “responsible, hardworking older weyrbrat” Junpei did. He’s _frustrated_ by the traditions barring him from official power, but he can work with what he’s got to keep on keeping on. Unlike explodey Ch’joh, J’pei knows how to use his own invisibility to protect others. He can cover for people, spin half-truths, misdirect, and shelter vulnerable riders & other weyrfolk from hazardous attentions.

Brownrider J’pei wants to punch so many of his peers. Like, imagine this kid not losing his rose-tinted view of dragonriders because of the shit that went down with his first mating flight, but because he’s suddenly privy to all the crap the wingleaders & seconds say about other people in private. He wants to change things, get girls the chance to Stand, etc, but he’s struggling with badly shaken faith in the system, not enough power to make changes on his _own,_ too much anger at his new peers to politic practically, no equivalent to the Green & Blue Circles to support him. He befriends P’trikor, loathes the worst of the rest, and has the most offended _disdain_ for the ones that just sort of go along with things.

The most politicking J’pei is capable of is keeping his mouth shut most of the time during his weyrling and wingsecond-trainee Turns. Once he _does_ secure a wingsecond position, though? A whole lot of dragonriders find out _exactly_ what he thinks of them. Not all though, because he knows _keeping_ wingsecond authority means, if not buttering up, at least not ripping apart his own wingleader. Who is, of course, F’lar. Sure, R’gul had a vested interest in his son’s training and _wanted_ to snatch him up, but F’lar got there first, and can imply R’gul recruiting J’pei would look like nepotism, no matter how skilled a rider J’pei is. Yes, F’lar has his own half-brother as his wingsecond, what’s your point?

Bronzerider J’pei undergoes the same shaken faith, but with a guaranteed wingleader position, seat on the council, and a chance at the Weyrleadership someday, he swallows all his anger and becomes _super focused_ on proving himself. He’s _going_ to build a support base and win one of Nemorth’s flights, or burn out trying. He’s the first bronzerider in decades to directly court Jora’s support (not romantically court her, they are mutually disinterested in each other like that). He brought her food when she was starving, driven feral by the bond with Nemorth, so frankly he’s got a leg up on the others already.

R’gul is...super obnoxious if he has a bronzerider son. Very proud! Very blatantly taking credit for all J’pei’s achievements! Either _heavily_ trying to reinforce his position as an authority figure, not wanting the competition, or doesn’t even think J’pei would challenge him and takes his support for granted. One of the moments R’gul boasts like J’pei’s achievements are his own, F’lar makes some shitty comment about it, and J’pei _viciously_ snipes back that F’lon would have acted like this about F’lar, if he’d lived. It’s a _very_ low blow and J’pei has _zero_ regrets because he’s so angry all the time, fuck, he’s so damned angry and he has very few outlets for it and he _really fucking hates F’lar._

Esme enthusiastically campaigns for J’pei among the Lower Caverns workers.

~

Okay, so those are the baselines. How does the color of the _other_ half of the pair’s dragon influence things? (thank you C for brainstorming this with me)

B-rider J’pei and greenrider Ch’joh throws a wrench in their relationship arc. J’pei is dealing with the pressure to appear straight, his fear of losing control, his fear of hurting a partner during a mating flight, his attraction to Ch’joh and sense that acting on it would be an imposition. Ch’joh is grappling with envy, the way greenriders are treated thrown into starker contrast than fic-canon when blue or brown or bronze weyrling J’pei is _right there_ being shown more deference and respect than him.

B-rider Ch’joh and greenrider J’pei...remember that time Ch’joh slammed F’lar against the hard stone wall of a tunnel? That, but like, _so much._ There are too many jerks in this Weyr.

When J’pei and Ch’joh are both b-riders, they’re an instant team. Ch’joh is loud, confrontational, sarcastic, drawing attention to himself, while J’pei quietly gets things done in the background. This is true even if they’re flying in different wings, but it’s _easier_ if they’re in the same wing.

Both of them as bronze specifically eventually results in Weyrleader Ch’joh & Right Hand Man J’pei (who is making the policy decisions) because of course they befriend Jora, and they’ve got each other as back-up. Ch’joh is much more chill with _transactional_ sex (also like, sex in general, but the transactional kind is the most relevant here) so if either of their bronzes catches Nemorth, it’s going to be Ch’joh’s.

Sidenote: R’gul full on _loathes_ Ch’joh when J’pei is a bronzerider, blaming Ch’joh’s influence for anything J’pei does that R’gul doesn’t like.

Both of them as gold riders: look, a double-gold-egg clutch is an _extremely_ unlikely scenario, but if it did happen?

Firstly there’s a few months of Jora refusing to declare either of them more senior than the other so that they both get maximum training and less individual pressure. Which gold hatched first, or which boy & dragon pair Impressed first, are either lost in the chaos, _or_ were different (Surugath hatched first and Namith Impressed first, or vice versa) and the bronzeriders argue over which matters for Seniority (based on who they think they can control more, not yet realizing the answer is _neither of them)._

Secondly, after Ch’joh’s had enough time to observe both Weyr politics and J’pei’s fears, he volunteers to be the senior goldrider so that J’pei’s mating flights aren’t political (or at least, _less_ political). If J’pei realizes that’s _why_ Ch’joh’s volunteering he’d probably try to argue with it, but if it’s presented as Ch’joh going “fuck yeah I get to be in charge and as few people as possible can tell me what to do” J’pei is all “yes absolutely.”

Note: goldrider J’pei plus Ch’joh on _any_ dragon (or even no dragon, and he sticks around, because _why would he leave)_ results in J’pei & Ch’joh becoming a couple at least a few months earlier than fic-canon. Surugath’s first flight won’t be for two and a half Turns! There’s less pressure on J’pei about sex for now! He’s a completely unprecedented rider dealing with the Weyr going _crazy_ over it, he might as well be allowed to have feelings for boys! Specifically this boy, right here! It’s like that John Mulaney quote “Adult life is already so damn weird, this might as well happen,” but instead of resignation it’s make-outs.

Goldrider J’pei also results in Ch’joh murdering R’gul in cold blood.


End file.
